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Hernandez, Biddle named April Minor League Players of the Month

Second baseman Cesar Hernandez of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs is the Phillies Minor League Player of the Month for April. Pitching honors go to left-hander Jesse Biddle of the Reading Fightin Phils.

Hernandez, a member of the Phillies 40-man roster, batted .375 for the month with a .917 OPS. The 22-year-old's 36 hits in April led the International League and were tied for fourth-best in Minor League Baseball.

A native of Valencia, Venezuela, Hernandez ended the month in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak where he was batting .413 (19-for-46). The switch-hitter hit safely in 19 of his 23 games, while tallying multiple hits in 11 of those contests.

Hernandez was a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts during April after swiping 21 bases last year between double-A Reading and Lehigh Valley.

Biddle, selected in the first round of the June 2010 draft out of Germantown Friends School (PA), went 2-1 with a 1.74 ERA over five starts in the month of April. The Philadelphia native struck out 40 batters while walking only 12 in 31.0 innings of work.

The 6-foot-5 lefty flirted with perfection on April 22 at Harrisburg before issuing a walk in the seventh inning. He struck out 16 Senators on the night which was the most by a Reading pitcher in nearly 12 years.

Biddle, 21, has allowed only 18 hits in 105 at-bats and his .114 average against is tops in Minor League Baseball.